Posted on 04/05/2010 10:11:40 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
The top US naval officer has vowed to stop people lighting up in submarines, where the confined atmosphere has serious passive smoking implications, a report said Monday.
"We are going to stop smoking on submarines," Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Gary Roughead told a recent meeting of senior submariners, according to the Navy Times magazine.
Navy spokesman Lieutenant Commander Mark Jones confirmed a ban could be in the pipeline, telling AFP: "We are currently looking at changing the policy, but we have not changed the policy."
At present, smoking on US submarines is up to the commanding officer's discretion and there are designated areas on many vessels where the crew are allowed to smoke.
"That atmosphere moves around the submarine. You don't smell it but the damaging things from the smoke are still present," Roughead was quoted as saying by the Navy Times.
A Pentagon study last year carried out by the American Institute of Medicine revealed that soldiers smoke a lot more on average than civilians and that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan had seen a spike in smoking.
The last official figures for the US military, in 2005, showed that almost one third of personnel in the armed forces, 32 percent, smoke as opposed to just one in five of the American population as a whole.
Jones said up to 40 percent of US submariners smoke, making it all the more important to look into a ban for the overall health of American sailors
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That would suck. Life is hard enough on a boat.
I agree with you.
Time to switch to the chewing or snuff type of tobacco.
In my opinion, it’s a good idea because it greatly minimizes the risk of starting a fire aboard a sub, and a fire aboard a sub is reacted to instantly.
Life is a lot harder when you have to endure someone else’s slimy, tarry, nicotine-laden stench at close range in a closed environment.
Well if they want to smoke, they could go outside to light up! /s
Would very much suck, but I can understand this one really. But what happens if the whole crew are smokers?
I wasn’t aware that was even allowed unless the sub is on the surface. They don’t need anything burning aboard a submerged sub.
The new “vaporizer” e-cigarettes sound like an alternative for those who absolutely insist on the weed.
I honestly didn’t know they allowed smoking on subs in the first place.
Gays yes, smokes no?
Oh, I’m not to “ask.”
Same here.
Banning smoking while inviting queers and women to subs. They must be Quakers of the Susan Anthony kind. Tie ‘em to the carttail, whip ‘em, and send ‘em back to where they came from. ;-)
They actually needed a study for that.
No one has to smell it. I use Skoal long cut straight. But if they are stuck under water for long periods of time protecting us they should be allowed some vices.
They quit deep, long and continuosly.
Actually, it raises it. When navy ships in the past have tried to ban (or severly restrict) smoking, sailors would flout the rules and light up in unauthorized compartments. A recent multi-million dollar fire aboard USS George Washington (CVN-73) was caused by smoking in an unauthorized space (though there was no smoking ban on the ship at the time).
It's better to have a safe smoking area than have sailors sneaking away to smoke in unsafe areas.
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